Marigolds, Chapter 31

31

“Why…who was that man just in here?” Ante Bukovats asked Bevilaqua. He was very agitated

“Who?” Bevilaqua sat with his back to me as Frommer and I watched through the one-way glass.

“That man who came in here.” Bukovats, now up and pacing, described me.

“Oh, him? He’s a private investigator. I think his name is O’Brien. He’s here a lot. Do you know him?”

“Ah, no. No I do not.”

“Hmm.”

Trooper Frommer entered the interview room. She told Bev he was needed elsewhere.

With slipping composure and a choked voice Bukovats asked if there were somewhere he could have a cigarette. Neither Bev nor Frommer responded as the door closed behind them.

“Please…officers…”

“Frommer, Bring him more coffee. One more cup should do it. Ask him if he has a lawyer while you’re in there, too. Don’t offer anything, just ask.”
“Trooper, you are peeling the skin off that man…” I said. “…one layer at a time.”

In the interview room Bukovats responded to Frommer that the school must have lawyers, no, he didn’t have one, and he hoped he wouldn’t need one. He then asked her if she knew what I was doing there. The surface of the coffee vibrated in his hand.

“He’s here to see my partner about something. I don’t know... He’s in and out of here all the time, though. Why? Know him?”

“No…it is just that he came in here to this room and said something I did not understand. I do not know him. Why would I know him?” Bukovats tried to pick up his coffee cup. He stopped and put his shaking hands back in his lap. Bevilaqua saw what he needed to see.

“Let’s go see Ante.”